Mysterious 5.6 tons of ancient coins buried under Chinese villages

Experts try to understand why hundreds of thousands of coins were buried underground.

People in eastern China have discovered a "treasure" of tens of thousands of coins when building a house.

Ancient coins are found in Jiangxi Province, China.

Jiangnan Metropolis Daily newspaper said the coins were found in Fu Liang, Jiangxi province and weighed about 5.6 tons.

Feng Ruqin, the head of the Fuliang County Museum, said 300,000 coins were dating back 800 years, from the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

Feng said the coins were also buried at the same time.

According to Feng, there are two scenarios to explain these currencies:

1. Firstly , they are collected by a local civilian or business group and hidden for future use.
2. Second : this is the property of a small local bank, allowing people to exchange currency daily.

Villagers found 300,000 coins.

"This amount seems to be buried in a hurry," Feng added.

He said it could take 2-3 years to clean and accurately determine the date of the coin.

After the villagers found this amount on October 13, police and archaeological experts were present at the site to check.

By law, all artifacts found this way must be handed over to the government for research.

Bronze coins don't seem to have any special value. However, many people tried to dig up the land to find out if there was a 'treasure' .